Honolulu, Hawaii: Demolition Begins at 436 Ena Road for Waikiki Affordable Housing

Demolition work has begun at 436 Ena Road in Waikiki, where the City and County of Honolulu is taking down the vacant former Ena Motoi building to make room for permanently affordable housing just off Kalakaua Avenue.

Contractor R.H.S. Lee, Inc. began structural demolition the week of November 2, the city said, using remotely operated demolition robots built by Sweden based Husqvarna. Realtor.com reported the machines are Husqvarna DXR 305 robots, built to dismantle structures in tight spaces while operators work from a safer distance. Demolition and site clearing are expected to continue through February 2027.

A robot does the first work

Mayor Rick Blangiardi, Department of Housing and Land Management Director Kevin Auger and Department of Community Services Director Anton Krucky joined project partners on Friday for a ceremonial demolition event at the site, where the city showed one of the robots that will be used throughout the project.

"Every piece of public land we have is an opportunity to make a difference, and in Waikiki, where housing is increasingly out of reach for so many local families, that opportunity carries even greater importance," Blangiardi said. "We are taking a property that has served our community in the past and investing in its future so it can serve even more Honolulu residents for generations to come."

The start of structural work follows months of preparation at the site, including environmental abatement, permitting, scaffold installation, site fencing and the arrival of the specialized equipment, the city said. Work will run during standard construction hours, and safety fencing will stay in place throughout the project.

What the building was

The city acquired the eight story, 33 unit property in 2018 using federal Community Development Block Grant funds to provide housing for low income residents and people experiencing homelessness. The property was previously overseen by the Department of Community Services and became the city's first housing project in Waikiki to accept Housing First vouchers.

The parcel is small for the neighborhood it sits in: about 6,000 square feet just off Kalakaua Avenue, holding the vacant eight story building and a detached parking structure. That is the trade the city is making in public. A small piece of city land in one of the most expensive housing markets in Hawaii comes down first, and what replaces it is promised as permanently affordable.

What comes next is not decided yet

Auger said demolition is a milestone, and that the department's focus is on what comes next: a development that holds long term affordability, makes efficient use of the property and delivers lasting value to the Waikiki community.

The final unit count and affordability levels have not been set. The city said both will be determined as the development plan and the financing structure are finalized, and the project still has to go through community engagement, environmental review and the applicable land use approvals as redevelopment moves forward. The housing department said it will keep coordinating with neighboring properties and the surrounding community as demolition progresses and will issue more updates as the project advances.

For Ena Road neighbors, the next four months are the loud part: a fenced site, standard hours work and robots taking an eight story building apart piece by piece. The housing that justifies it is still a plan on paper, with its size and its rents unwritten.